2 UC regents push for in-depth talks on bidding to manage labs

Keay Davidson, Chronicle Science Writer

Published 4:00 am, Friday, January 16, 2004

Two members of the University of California Board of Regents called Thursday for a serious discussion about whether UC should compete for contracts to continue its longtime job running the nation's nuclear weapons laboratories.

Nine months have passed since Department of Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said he would require competitive bidding on the contract to manage the UC-run Los Alamos National Laboratory, the nation's premier nuclear weapons design laboratory in New Mexico. Since then, Congress also has ordered competitive bidding for management at the two Bay Area labs UC has run for more than a half-century -- Lawrence Livermore and Lawrence Berkeley.

Yet since Abraham's announcement, which followed a series of management and financial problems at Los Alamos, the regents haven't held a formal discussion about the pros and cons of competing for the new contracts -- a competition that could cost tens of millions of dollars at a time the university system is cutting back and raising fees to deal with California's state budget deficit.

During Thursday's regents meeting in San Francisco, student member Matt J. Murray of UC Berkeley urged a full discussion about whether UC should fight to hold on to its lab contracts.

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But Regent Peter Preuss, who chairs the board's committee on oversight of the Energy Department labs, said that kind of discussion would be difficult because UC officials "don't know what we're competing for yet."

University administrators have said they're waiting to decide whether to compete to continue as the stewards of the labs until the Energy Department produces its detailed description of the job expected of the new lab managers -- the first step in the bidding procedure.

UC President Robert C. Dynes added: "Now is not the time to talk about whether we will compete or not. There will come a time."

But Regent Sherry Lansing stepped in to second Murray's point.

"Before I could make an intelligent decision" on whether UC should compete for the new contracts, Lansing said, "I need a lot more information. It's a very, very big decision, (and) we need to be as well informed as we can. "

Lansing did not specify what such a discussion should involve. However, she said, board members need to hear opinions from "expertise that is balanced on both sides" of the issue.

Neither Murray nor Lansing took a stand on the question of whether UC should compete, and neither specifically accused their colleagues on the board of delaying such a discussion. They later joined a unanimous vote to authorize Dynes to take what action he deems necessary to keep open the possibility of competing, in the event he has to take action without time for consulting with the regents.

In that case, Dynes would need to consult only with Preuss and board chairman John J. Moores before taking action.

The regents' vote does not commit UC to compete for any of the lab contracts, officials emphasized. All the vote does is allow UC to "stay in the stream for downstream competition" should the regents ultimately vote to do so, said Robert Foley, UC vice president for laboratory management.

"You certainly don't want to wait to the last minute and be in reactive mode" should the Energy Department issue its requirements for the management contract and request a quick response, say within 45 days, Foley said at a press conference after the regents' meeting.

A major potential competitor is the huge University of Texas system, which has long hoped to enhance its stature by winning a federal contract to run a national laboratory.

Asked Thursday if he considered the University of Texas a viable competitor, Foley shrugged and said, "Why hypothesize on who might do it?"

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